EC Initiative Concerning Civil Use of RPAS

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Aviation technologies continue to evolve and to offer ever more opportunities to deliver services to citizens and to contribute to creating jobs and growth. At the same time, the growing use of new technologies deserves public debate and often requires appropriate intervention of the regulator in order to protect essential public interest. This is the case for remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), commonly known as drones. Such unmanned aircraft have the potential to support in the coming years a wide development of civil applications. Continue reading

UAS Journalism in Kenya


The pilot African SkyCAM project funded by the Africa News Innovation Challenge is using these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Kenya, and a follow-up initiative, africanDRONE, is planned to agree safe community standards for ‘drone journalism’ across Africa. Filming from a high vantage point helps bring a sense of scale to stories that might otherwise be unavailable to journalists in developing countries, says Dickens Olewe, African SkyCAM’s founder. Continue reading

Amazon May Test UAS Deliveries in India

amazonprimeairIndia, not US, will be the launch-pad for Amazon’s plan to deliver packages using drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to two people aware of the development. The US-based e-tailer will debut its drone delivery service with trials in Mumbai and Bangalore, cities where it has warehouses, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

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First BLOS Flight at Spanish Test Centre

spain2Spain’s Air Traffic Laboratory for Advanced Systems (Atlas) experimental test centre on August 20 hosted the first flight of a remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) beyond visual line of sight since new rules governing RPAS entered force in that country. Pilots with the Centre for Advanced Aerospace Technologies flew the Viewer aircraft, a 33-pound mtow electric airplane, more than 8 km (4.9 miles) from the center’s facilities in Villacarrillo and up to 3,300 feet above sea level.

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